Consultancy Position at Save the Children

Terms of Reference for Consultancy to Develop National Strategy for Ending Child Marriage

Background

The Nigeria Constitution sets the age of marriage at 18 years. However, getting married formally or informally before the legal age known as child marriage is a common practice across the country. Arranged marriages for adolescent girls without their consent are also common in Nigeria especially in the rural areas of Northern region. Although Nigerian Government has tried to stop child marriage with the enactment and adoption by states the Child Rights Act of 2003, the practice of child marriage is still prevalent in some regions.

Age at first marriage varies by residence, educational level, wealth quintile and across the different regions of the country. Women aged 25-49 living in urban areas marry about four years later than rural women (20.8 years compared with 16.7 years) and the median age at first marriage is higher among the better educated and the wealthier. The median age at first marriage for women living in northern Nigeria are lower (15.3) as compared to western and south eastern region (21.7 and 22.7 respectively). Among the states, the median age at marriage is as low as 14.4 years in Zamfara (NDHS, 2013).

The requirement for free and informed consent of both parties to a marriage is recognized in numerous legal instruments at international, national and local levels. International human rights standards classify marriages before the age of 18 as child marriages, reasoning that those under age 18 are unable to give informed consent. Child marriage is a serious human rights violation. Although few countries have specifically criminalized the practice still the issue of child marriage still exist. Despite the legal protections being put in place, the dual existence of customary practices and civil law are hindering the process to success to ending child marriage.

In context of the above, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD) in collaboration with Save the Children International (SCI) is recruiting a Consultant to formulate a national strategy for curbing Child marriage which will support sustainability of interventions to end child marriage in Nigeria.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Consultant:**

The consultant will develop a national strategy which upon adoption would be implemented to end child marriage for prosperity, social economic transformation, strengthen child protection mechanism and enforcement of relevant legislation and influence changes in dominant thinking in regard to social and cultural norms that cause, drive and perpetuate the practice of child marriage in Nigeria.

The consultant will also be responsible for:

Conducting a Desk Review of Government policy and legal documents as well as Government Ministries, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), INGOs and UN Agencies and other Development Partners program documents about child marriage

Conducting national and regional stakeholders’ consultative meetings to solicit and discuss their input in the preparation of the National Strategy

Conducting interviews and Focal Group Discussions (FGDs) with relevant stakeholders

Drafting of a national strategy on child marriage to reflect the goals, objectives, strategic areas of focus and target groups

Submission of a draft strategy for review and feedback

Facilitate a review meeting to validate the draft strategy and finalize it

Expected Deliverables:**

A clear work plan with precise actions, timeline and specific tools and techniques in line with the scope of work and specific tasks;

Reports on the basis of series of workshops/interaction with Federal, State and local stakeholders;

Final copy of the national strategy

Action plan for the implementation of the newly formulated strategy.

Methodology:

The consultant will develop a detail methodology to collect information which will be incorporated into national strategy document. Information gathering will include key stakeholders workshop consultations targeting children, traditional and religious leaders, Government and Development Partners.

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